birds in a hammock
by redsflowers
Summary: "We've. Kissed. Before."


Chuck's place is pretty cool. Tall, lots of space for running, some of his own artwork to help decorate, a hammock for naps (ten second naps, most likely). It suit him perfectly, but he hasn't been in it much ever since he and Bomb proclaimed themselves Red's roommates and they spend as much time as they can over there.

The first birds to hang out in it in a long while were it's owner and a certain red bird with whom he maaay have recently broken tension with… And they miiight be sitting on the nap hammock, at a distance that seemed respectable but not for long because their faces are _certainly_ getting closer… And closer… And closer…

Chuck opened an eye slightly to take a quick peak before what was about to happen happened. He couldn't help it. He would have his eyes wide open to witness everything if it weren't consisdered strange. He had a view. It was… something. Not Red's kissy face. Although it wasn't the most flattering one either, but that was besides the point.

Red seemed very focused—what with the furrowed brows. But everything else told a different story. His clenched fists, his noticeable uneasiness, him not appearing to be leaning in and rather just waiting for Chuck to do it. He was a nervous wreck.

Chuck felt conflicting emotions towards this. On one hand, he found it kind of endearing. He's never seen Red this nervous before and the fact that he's the reason for this makes him feel special. It let him know that Red is really trying his best, considering he's new to the whole 'relationship' thing.

But on the other hand, Red is clearly very uncomfortable and even if Chuck didn't fully understand why, he never would've wanted to make him feel like this.

These thoughts crossed Chuck's mind in the span of seconds until he decided to just scoot back and sit up straight. He giggled as he poked Red's shoulder to make him realize that their faces were no longer inches apart.

Red's brief embarrassment turned into confusion, which turned into frustration as Chuck kept giggling instead of explaining what that was about. He had a hunch that it had to do with his nervousness that he tried so hard to hide, so he wasn't looking forward to most likely being teased to it. Still, he wanted clarification. "Did you just NOT want to kiss or something?! What's so funny?"

Finally calming himself, Chuck sat closer and gently held a red wing. He answered while also giving his brightest smile. "Oh, nothing's that funny, really! I just find you sooo A-DO-RA-BLE!" He said in a sing-song voice, putting emphasis on each syllable of the last word. "It makes me all giddy."

Looking at him, not entirely sure what he's talking about, Red still had an unnoticeable blush creeping up on his face due to these comments. It was a new feeling for him. Chuck could be speaking nonsense that mildly sounded like a compliment and Red would get butterflies in his stomach over that now. He didn't like it. He didn't like having a 'weakness' for someone else now, but accepting that and also having Chuck be aware of that is much better than when he tried repressing it for a while… Maybe a few days… Or a week… Or close to a month. Look, he's really new to the whole 'relationship' thing, okay.

Any more thoughts about that were interrupted by an ever so talkative yellow bird. "And I sure did want to do some kissin'! Lots of it!" He prodded Red's chest with his free, non-tenderly-holding-another-wing wing. His cheery expression not changing even the slightest and not once breaking eye contact, " _Lots!_ ", followed by a solid five seconds of staring. "…But you didn't really seem up for it and that's totally fine! We can just chill here, y'know? Oooh! Or I can run and find some movies we can watch. I've got like, a hundred billion rom-coms lemme tell ya. Then we can kiss later if you're ready, or some other day! It's all good. Like, it's gonna be weird if I'm smoochin' on you while you look all constipat-"

Red scoffed, interrupting him. Trying to muster faux offense, even though he was completely sure of it's reasoning. "What?! I-I'm up for it?" His voice reaching a higher pitch with every word. He noticed this and cleared his throat before continuing. "We've kissed before, so like… Yeah. C'mere."

He quickly leaned in… And was immediately greeted by Chuck's free, previously-chest-prodding wing covering his puckered up beak. "Red. You're still shaking."

He froze for a few seconds (or enough for Chuck to give a quick tease on how "gentlemanly" he is for kissing his wing like this anyway), then sat back in defeat. Maybe a little too back in defeat, seeing as he almost fell backwards off of the hammock if not for Chuck still holding his wing.

No matter what serious expression he put on, he couldn't hide his anxious (or just in general emotional) shaking. Earlier, it was because of his kiss nervousness and now it was because of that _and_ because of these dumb past few seconds he'll be thinking about for the next week.

Sometimes his feathers would start sticking out too due to all the emotion, making him look fluffy and far less intimidating than wished, but thankfully that didn't happen. What a disaster that would've been.

Not to mention that they were sitting on a hammock. Of course Chuck was going to feel his shaking even if he wasn't touched. Which seems to be a _lot_ more than he thought he was, considering that Chuck—actual constantly vibrating bird— could sense it.

His train of thought was once again interrupted, but this time by two yellow wings now gently and comfortingly holding a red wing in between. Red's expression fell when he saw how soft Chuck's expression was. Chuck is so… loving? And understanding? And loving and understanding to _him_? It felt so weird for someone to love him that much… Or just love him at all. Period.

Well, romantically. At least. Period.

"I'm… sorry."

"Aw, Red! What are you sorry for?! You have nothing to be sorry about! It feels nice. Like _really_ nice. And I mean really, _really_ nice but kissing IS weird when you think about it, I mean, a mouth i-"

"We've. Kissed. Before." Red said, making gestures with his wings to accentuate each word and then crossed his arms.

Chuck replied by mimicking Red's gestures and emphasis. "I. Know. That's. How. We. Started. This. And. Now. We're. Dating… Or if I'm dividing that by syllables then it would be _star-ted_ and then _dat-ing_ , but you didn't do that on the la-" He stopped himself —a rare occasion, seeing look on Red's face and hearing the low groan that escaped from his throat.

Red exhaled and uncrossed his arms, his expression seeming like a neutral to somewhat lost one now, "…I just don't get why I'm all weird about it right now. Ugh."

He felt Chuck gently but reassuringly stroke his wing. Something about such little actions were so comforting to him. Chuck is usually always so blunt about everything. Him being subtle about anything is so rare and it was always directed at him. It made him feel kinda special. It also made him feel those obnoxious butterflies in his stomach again.

He looked at their wings together and then looked back at Chuck. He gave the smallest smile while the yellow bird gave the biggest.

"So, …what kinda movies are you into, again?"


End file.
